31. People in India would know their Fundamental Rights. - Page 403

31

PEOPLE IN INDIA WOULD KNOW THEIR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Law Minister, Government of India, visited Hyderabad. He addressed a meeting held in the Boat Club, under the auspices of the Hyderabad Progressive Group on 24-5-1950. Certain questions were put to him by the correspondents and members of the audience in regard to the Constitution, Democracy, Untouchability etc.

Parliamentary Democracy in India

There are moments when I think that the future of Democracy in India is very dark. But, I do not want to say that I have not other moments when I feel that if all of us put our shoulders together and pledge ourselves to “constitutional morality” we should be able to build up a regular party system in which there could be liberty, equality and fraternity.

Fundamental Rights Embodied in The Constitution Of India

It is wrong to suppose that fundamental rights conferred absolute rights on the citizens. We have certain limitations on Fundamental Rights which are necessary for the safety of the State. While we drafted the Constitution, we took care to see that individual liberty was not unduly affected by limitation on fundamental rights.

The best guarantee of fundamental rights was to have a good opposition in Parliament, in which case the Government was bound to behave properly.

The second safeguard was legal. For instance, a Minister acted on reports submitted by the C. I. D. in arresting and keeping a person under the preventive detention. The question that arose was were the reports of the C. I. D. genuine. This is a difficult question to solve.